What A Difference

A Day Makes!

By Tony Mullen

Minted at Charlotte, North Carolina in 1847, this gorgeous Coronet $5 gold piece was the find of a lifetime for Tony Mullen, now a proud member of W&ET’s exclusive “Gold coin Club”

Every treasure hunter has probably had this nightmare. You finally get permission to hunt a particular place that you have been eyeing for quite some time, and then something happens. Something you could never imagine is about to ruin your “perfect opportunity.” Well, that almost happened to me one weekend in March 2001. I hunt with a Fisher CZ-7A and had sent it in to Fisher for some planned maintenance, figuring that I still had time before the weather broke and the hunting season kicked in. I expected that, with transit time included, I would be without a detector for about two weeks. My wife Teresa figured that out, too, and the Honey-do list was a sight to behold!
The first week was not too bad. I was steadily chipping away at “the list.” Then it happened. My father, Frank Mullen, called me from Virginia. He had just turned up an 1852 silver 3 cent piece, having received permission to search a site that dates back to the l770s. We had been watching that place for quite some time. Needless to say,
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The look on
Teresa ‘s face was priceless. She just looked at me and asked, “Is it real?”
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I was thinking road trip! Then I remembered that my detector was on the other coast. Before we hung up, we made plans to visit the next weekend. My next call was to Fisher. I checked the status of my repair and told Cori Doninelli the Customer service representative, about our upcoming trip. She assured me that I would have my detector in plenty of time. Now for the hard part— waiting. On Wednesday of the following week I called again to make sure my detector was on its way. As it turned out, the detector was still being worked on. My heart sank. I thought, “There is no way I will have my machine this weekend,” but once again, Cori assured me that it would arrive in plenty of time. On Thursday morning I got a pleasant surprise. UPS brought my detector prepaid, next day air, early a.m. delivery. Thank you, Cori, for defining the words “Customer Service” with your actions.

On Friday I left work a bit early and made the 200-mile drive to Virginia. We managed to hunt at another site that we call “Frank’s Honey Hole” for about an hour and a half before it got dark. There was no doubt the CZ-7 was working. My first find was a 1926 Buffalo, followed a few minutes later by a 1941 Mercury dime, a 1947 Roosevelt dime, and enough Wheat (cents) to feed the Russians!
We headed out early Saturday morning to the old Colonial site. This was the moment I had been waiting for. A coin dated 1852 had already been found at this site, which had been occupied for 80 years before that coin was struck. We had high hopes of possibly finding some Spanish silver or Colonial coppers. Unfortunately, the site proved difficult to hunt, as parts of it are now wooded and the grass is probably mowed no more than twice a year. So, we slowly began searching acres of land.

If you could have heard my headphones, you would have said, “There ain’t nothin’ here but iron!” And there wasn’t. I found a couple of Memorial cents, and that was about it except for the occasional horseshoe and a couple of thousand square nails. Man, was I bummed. So, I packed up the family and headed back to North Carolina. Here it was St. Patrick’s Day, and my Irish Luck was nowhere to be found. But, oh, what a difference a day makes!

The following day it was just cool enough to be comfortable in a sweatshirt. As we drove home from church, I told Teresa, “I am going to find something good there today.” As I said those words, I pointed to the place I was planning to hunt that afternoon. I could almost hear her think it out loud: “Yeah, right. I’ve heard that before.” I got to the house, ate a quick bite, and headed out for the afternoon.

I found a couple of clad coins right off the bat. Then about 15 minutes into the hunt, I heard a rather odd tone in the headphones. I cut a plug about 4” deep, and when I flipped it back I saw a flash of gold. I literally said out loud, “Oh, great! Another arcade token.” I put my Lesche digging tool back in the sheath and started to reach for the “token” when I saw a reeded edge! I thought, “There is no way!” I picked it up and felt the weight. I was almost scared to look. Then I saw FIVE D.
I flipped it over and all I could see of the date was 7. I gently brushed away the black dirt… 1847!

A major numismatic authentication and grading service has certified Tony ‘s 1847-C eagle at a net grade of VF-30, with XF details, making it an extremely valuable find.

Well, let me tell you, it was on! As I told some folks on an internet forum, it was not exactly like you see on Riverdance. It was more like a fat guy stomping out a brushfire! What can I say? It was my first gold dance! Once I realized how ridiculous I looked, I calmed down enough to check the hole again. Nope, just the one! I had just found my oldest and “goldest” coin, an 1847 $5 gold piece minted in Charlotte, North Carolina.

I tried to hunt a little more but it was pointless. I had to tell someone. My first call was to my father. I wanted him to check the value in his coin book. No answer. So, I called my wife. No answer. I couldn’t believe it! I had just found a gold coin, and there was no one to tell! About that time I saw Teresa and my daughter Suzanne coming down the road for their Sunday afternoon, pre-naptime stroll. They knew something was up when I came running to meet them, grinning from ear to ear!
The look on Teresa’s face was priceless. She just looked at me and asked, “Is it real?” She asked me what I thought it was worth. I told her it would probably go up to $300. (When I found the coin, I was too excited to notice the Charlotte mintmark. Once I did, I almost stomped out Act II!) When I got back to the house, I suddenly realized that Teresa had a newfound interest in coins. She had pulled out my Red Book and had it lying open on the kitchen table. Suddenly I had a hunch that it might do a little better than $300!

So far, it’s the find of a lifetime for me. I can’t help thinking about the person who lost that coin. That was quite a bit of money back then. The coin has been authenticated, but I am in the process of having it graded a second time. This rare find has made a very nice addition to Suzanne’s collection. I recently read that less than 1 % of all the gold coins minted at Charlotte exist in any condition. What’s ironic is that I was having a conversation with a fellow employee on Thursday before that weekend, and in that conversation I said to him, “I will probably never find a gold coin, but if I do, I hope it has a Charlotte mint mark.” Who knew?

Since I “struck gold,” I have had plenty of offers from prospective hunting partners and numerous inquires as to exactly where I found it. I don’t want to be unfair to anyone. So, I’ve been telling everyone the same thing: I did not mug the St. Patrick’s Day leprechaun. I found it somewhere in North Carolina… near a tree.

TONY MULLEN may not be quite as rotund (fat) as the reader envisions from this article. it is a fact, however that he cannot dance.

Reprinted from Western & Eastern Treasure
2002

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By Tony Mullen

Have you ever had your sights set on a particular place to hunt, just knowing in your heart of hearts that it would be an awesome place to detect? Or have you ever tried repeatedly to get permission to hunt a particular place, but somehow never managed to track down the owner? Either situation can keep a serious treasure hunter on edge for a long time. This story is about just such a place.

I work in a small town in North Carolina, about 45 minutes north of Charlotte. There has been a lot of history recorded in the area from the French & Indian War, through the Revolutionary War and Civil War. The community has done well in preserving many of the structures that survived the torches of the Union Army, and a great deal of work and planning has been done to preserve the older houses in many sections of town. A series of historic districts have been established, and covenants and restrictions are now in place to ensure that they will continue to be preserved. In many towns, the older areas often turn out to be the “rougher” ones as well. This town is no exception. While the historical districts are having a positive impact, many of the surrounding neighborhoods remain high crime areas. Detecting around these older homes provides a great opportunity to make some nice finds, but it is in your best interest to take a hunting partner with you!

About three years ago, my hunting partner Allen and his friend Mike had received permission to hunt one of the beautiful Victorian residences in the historic district. They made many nice finds in the yard of the home that was built in 1887. In fact,
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Tony and Allen soon began finding coins like these around the historic house— over 100 on the front lawn alone.

A fully gilt eagle cuff button fairly gleams, just as it did in the indian Wars era.

A surprising and highly prized find was this Confederate Army officer’s button bearing a “W. Dowler / Superior Quality” backin ark.
they have been able to search that particular site for a couple of years, and each trip back has yielded a nice surprise or two. I too had hunted a couple of sites on the same street, though with less than exciting results. However, there was one particular house on a side street that caught everyone’s attention. Allen pointed it out to me one day, and we agreed that this would be “The”place to hunt. It’s a large Victorian, a little over 6,000 sq. ft., and I got excited when I noticed a light on in the front hallway. Unfortunately, the excitement didn’t last long: Allen told me that the light had been on for a couple of months. He already had some information on the owner, but could never catch him at home. Anytime we got a chance, one of us would go by the house to try to catch someone there. We asked the neighbors about the owner and were told that he was living in Charlotte but generally came home on Sunday afternoons to check on the house. We made many trips to the house over the next couple of years, even writing a letter, but to no avail. Since I work in the town, I made it a point to go by the house whenever I could. This went on for three years! No one was ever there, but the light was always on. It became a bit of a personal challenge with me. I was so determined to meet this man that I got to the point where I was not worried about the permission any more… I just wanted to find out where he bought his light bulbs! Finally, our luck was about to change.

Things at work had gotten a bit crazy one day, so I decided I would get out of the office for a while. It seemed like a good opportunity to drive by the house and see if the owner happened to be around. When I drove up in front of the house, some activity from the house next door caught my attention. The house next door is a creepy looking, abandoned place. Built in the 1920s, it seems painfully out of place among the older Victorian homes. The city wants the house to be torn down, but the ownership of the house is a subject of much debate. The lady who lived in the house recently passed away, and she willed the property to her cat! Now the cat has died as well, so the courts are trying to decide what will happen to the property. (Honestly, every word of this is true!) After chatting with the lady at the house next door, I got permission to detect that yard. She also told me that the neighbor across the street had a phone number for the man we had been searching for all of this time.

After work that day I went back to the house to detect. I was really just planning to hang around out in front, see if I could catch the neighbor coming home from work, and get a phone number. When I arrived, I heard a lawn mower running. I walked around the corner of the house, and could not believe my eyes. After three years I had finally found Mr. Walker! I introduced myself, and as we began talking, I soon realized that Mr. Walker was not only one of the kindest and most generous people I had ever met, but he also has an incredible knowledge of local history. We must have talked for an hour or more. He told me how he had come to inherit the property. His wife’s family had bought it at a public auction in 1872, and at that time the farm was 40 acres. Some of the nearby houses we had hunted in the past were part of the original home place. There was also a house that stood where the current house now stands. Mr. Walker and his wife had inherited it in 1978, when no other family members wanted it.

Then came the big moment: I asked Mr. Walker how he would feel about us metal detecting his property. He said, “That would be fine”— and that was music to my ears! I couldn’t wait to tell Allen the news. I left without even detecting at the house next door! When I called Allen, I think he was stunned. Finally, we had permission! I had already called my office and told them that I was not going to be coming in to work the next day, and I asked Allen if he was going to join me. He too decided that a vacation day was in order. So, we met early the next morning.

The finds started coming quickly. First a few wheat cents and then a couple of buttons. Soon Allen started finding Indian Head cents, and I dug a silver dime and a Buffalo nickel. It was apparent that we were the first to detect here, as there were literally targets everywhere. We hunted on for a couple hours, unearthing more old coins, old keys, buttons, and various other items. Then we stopped to take a break when Mr. Walker came home, and Allen finally got to meet him after “stalking” him for three years.
Mr. Walker said, “Do you know why I let you detect my yard?”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because you asked me,” he replied. He then told us that he had seen people just walk up in his yard two different times, turn on a detector, and start swinging. Of course, he quickly invited them to leave. All they had to do was ask. He then told us that he hoped we found something very valuable, and if we did he wanted us to keep it. At this point I was thinking to myself, “Allen is having a dream, and I’m just in it!”

We continued to hunt that day, and went on to recover about a dozen Indian Heads, several Buffalo nickels, silver “war” nickels, and “V” nickels. We also found silver Roosevelt and Mercury dimes, a 1926 Standing Liberty quarter, an 1886 foreign coin, an 1828 large cent, several watch fobs, old keys, and assorted buttons. In all, we found around 100 coins during the first hunt— and that was out of the front yard alone!

Allen left for a vacation at the beach the next day, and was gone through the following weekend. After church on Sunday, I went back to the house owned by the cat to search that yard. It started raining, so I went into Mr. Walker’s yard to try to get out of the rain. I continued to hunt under the large trees during the downpour, and I was able to find another Buffalo nickel and an 1874 Shield nickel. After a quick couple of keepers like those. I did not want to leave, but a sudden flash of lightning convinced me to come back another day!
That day came about a week later. This time it was my turn to head to the beach, but we wanted to hit the yard another time before I left, so we met early on Saturday morning. The heat was pretty bad, but we hardly noticed it for all the mosquitoes! We finally got into the back yard, where we were expecting more of the same results we were having in the front yard. However, the mosquitoes won this battle, and we quickly abandoned the back yard for the time being. Allen had to leave early for a prior commitment. so I moved back to the front yard, reworking the areas where we had already recovered more than 100 coins. I was pretty embarrassed at the results of this hunt, though not for the reason you might think. I thought we had done a pretty fair job of cleaning the place out, yet I promptly popped up an old bracelet, a 1928 Mercury dime, another skeleton key, an 1891 Indian Head, and another dozen Wheat cents. I also found a small coin spill under a pear tree— two silver Roosevelt dimes, three wheat cents, and a steel cent. I feel sure there are more coins around that pear tree, but swarming yellow jackets sent me retreating faster than the mosquitoes!

I returned to the house a few weeks later when I realized that I did not have any photos of the site. I hadn’t really planned to detect that day, but the wind was blowing fairly hard, and the mosquitoes didn’t seem to be a problem. I didn’t have a lot of time, but I thought I would at least test drive my Fisher Coinstrike around the backyard for a few minutes. I only dug three or four signals that day as my time was limited, and after quickly digging a couple of eagle buttons I called it a day.

When I returned home, my wife asked if I found anything, and I replied, “It looks like some poor “Yank” lost a couple of buttons up at Mr. Walker’s place.” Later, when I decided to clean the buttons up a bit, the first turned out to be a fully gilt cuff button from the Indian Wars era. As I started cleaning the big coat-size button, I noticed there was no shield on the eagle. Then I started working on the back and was able to make out “W. Dowler Superior Quality” on the reverse. That’s when I realized that I had found a Confederate Staff Officer’s button, and an unexpected quote from pro wrestler Ric Flair uncontrollably flew out of my mouth. Whhhoooooooo! My 2-year-old started crying because she thought Daddy had hurt himself! What a surprise it was to pull that button out of a site like this!

After years of waiting, we have already made some very nice finds at Mr. Walker’s. We often wonder what may still be hiding in the backyard. Unfortunately, right now the mosquitoes and yellow jackets are diligently standing guard! But winter is coming, and Mr. Walker has invited us to detect his property any time we would like. So we don’t mind waiting. Even if we don’t find anything else this has been a great site, but we’re confident that the future holds more good recoveries. And more importantly, we have been reminded once again that, “Good things come to those who wait!”

TONY MULLEN, in addition to metal detecting, has a passion for helping orphans in the eastern European country of Moldova. For more infornation, visit
www.littlesamaritan.org

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By Tony Mullen

Frank mullen (left), Tony Mullen (center), and Tony's daughter Suzanne proudly display their hurricane treasures. Even though Frank and Tony had high hopes for their detecting vacation they never envisioned anything like this... over 1,000 coins, a 14K diamond & emerald ring, a 14K diamond & sapphire ring, pendants, charms, earrings a bracelet, scores of keys, and more!

My father, Frank Mullen, and I are relatively new treasure hunters, but after our recent trip to the Caribbean we came home feeling like old pros. Actually, the truth is we just came home feeling old! We have been detecting for about a year now; but it is difficult for us to get together to hunt since we live 200 miles apart. I live in Claremont, North Carolina, and he lives in Roanoke, Virginia. Over the last year, however, any excuse to get together and detect was a good one.

This particular story started with a phone call at work in late August. Dad called to see if I would be able to clear my schedule in October for a trip to the Cayman Islands. All of the details were soon worked out, and the arrangements were made; but now the most difficult part had begun: a month and a half to wait. That leaves a lot of time for a treasure hunter’s imagination to run wild! You know how it is – visions of pirate’s gold, not to mention modern coins, watches, rings, and other valuables literally littering the beaches, just waiting to be scooped up! Finally, the day had come.

On October 12 I loaded up the family, my wife Teresa and daughter Suzanne, and we met my parents, Frank and Barbara Mullen, at the airport in Charlotte. We all arrived safely on Grand Cayman that afternoon.

As you know, when you fly, the big question is, where will your luggage go while you are on vacation? So, we thought it best to take our detectors as our carry-on bags. That proved to be an interesting experience, as my bag and I got a great deal of attention from security at the airport in Charlotte. After I showed them the manual for this “device,” as they called it, they had no problem allowing it on the airplane.

Shortly after we arrived on the island, another visitor blew into the country. Her name was Irene. . . later to become the infamous Hurricane Irene. The rain squalls began before we actually got out of the airport. We arrived at our condo and settled in for our first topical storm on foreign soil.

We spent most of Tuesday trying to hunt between down pours, but with little luck.

Wednesday was about the same: 40+ mph winds and lots of rain.

Despite all of this, we still managed to find a few coins, but nothing to write home about. By late Wednesday, however, cabin fever was kicking in. Finally. we just decided to hunt in the storm.

So, we hit the beach, stopping occasionally under the Australian pines for shelter.

Although we began finding a fair amount of coins, after about an hour of hurricane hunting we decided to hang it up until tomorrow.

Thursday morning came, and we were up before the sun. As dawn broke we made our way to the beach, and our hearts sank when we saw what had happened. Rough seas had eroded the beach overnight, stripping away 2-4′ of sand. I thought, “It’s all gone now”. We were standing, looking over a 3′ drop- off into the water when we saw what we thought was a coin. I jumped in to get it, and my Fisher CZ-7A went crazy! There were coins everywhere! Dad jumped in with his White’s XLT, and we were scooping up coins left and right! After the initial rush of 20 to 30 coins, we decided to settle down for some serious, methodical searching. So, we spread out regained our composure, and began searching. After about two minutes of hunting, I heard Dad shout, “Bingo!” When I turned around, he was grinning and holding up a lady’s 14K ring with six diamonds and three emeralds… the first ring he had ever found. Not a bad start! The hurricane that we thought was going to ruin the hunting turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to us. All day long we continued to dig coins from the 250-yard stretch of beach. Even while we were digging, there were more coins washing up on the beach.

Money was just rolling in out of the ocean! We had never seen anything like it, and in all likelihood we probably never will again. Eventually, my mother decided to venture out, and she too began finding coins.. . without a detector! After a couple of hours we decided to head back to the condo for lunch. I couldn’t wait to tell Teresa about the morning we’d had. She was unable to get out that day because Suzanne, who is only 9 months old, was running a fever. You know how new mothers are about taking their babies out in hurricanes!

However, Teresa was not to be outdone. While doing some laundry, she had found a handful of coins in the washer and dryer at the condo where we were staying! That day alone netted us over 350 coins, three rings, a silver cross, and a pendant.

The next morning we were up with the sun once more, and, as before, the beach had eroded overnight. So, we decided to hunt the same area again. When I got to the beach, I headed south with high hopes. For some unknown reason, though, I turned around and began working my way back north. When Dad got to the beach, he asked me where I had turned around, and he started searching from there toward the south. About 45 seconds later, I hear the familiar, “Bingo!” You guessed it. There he stood, grinning again, holding up another 14K ring, this one with four sapphires and three diamonds. I could kick myself for turning around! As I said, we hunted the same stretch of beach again that day. and it was almost as productive as before. The real challenge was keeping our detectors out of the water. We were hunting in pretty rough surf that was ankle-deep one minute and waist-deep the next. It was amazing to see waves like that in the Caribbean.

As the week progressed, the weather improved. Unfortunately, as the weather improved the erosion stopped the finds decreased. Not only that, but our week was coming to an end. We were scheduled to return to the U.S. on the following Tuesday.

We decided to take an inventory of our finds before we left, and on Monday night we laid it all out and took pictures. At that time we had found 928 coins, five rings, a bracelet, numerous pendants, charms, earrings, 49 hotel keys, and a pair of sun- glasses that I wore home. (Mom wore the rings home!) After we counted the coins, we thought it would really be a shame to be that close to 1,000 and come up short. So, we decided to go for 1,000 We only needed 72 coins to make it. Determined to reach our goal, we set out early and hauled in 77 coins Tuesday morning to bring the total to 1,005 coins. We had never imagined anything like this! The heart-stopper of the trip was when Dad dug a Spanish coin dated 1792. But we found out later from a local coin dealer that the coin had been cast several years earlier for the Caymanian’s nationally celebrated Pirate’s Week.

We are now in the process of cleaning all those coins, many of which are encrusted and still unidentified. So far, we have coins from six different countries, and the oldest is a 1947 Wheat cent. However, with so many coins left to clean, I expect that we may have few more surprises awaiting us in the bunch.

The trip is over now. We have returned home to face reality once again, but we really enjoy showing the pictures and talking about all the treasure we brought home. The fact is, though, that I took the real treasure with me – the time spent and memories made with my family. The stuff we dug up was just a little bonus. Thanks for a great trip, Mom and Dad. Last but not least, thank you, Irene.. .

wherever you are!

Two happy hunters scan the sand at Grand Cayman! Thanks to Hurricane Irene, Tony and his Dad had a treasure-filled trip they'll never forget!

TONY MULLEN gave up golfing and started metal detecting about a year ago. He says he prefers detecting over golf because he takes out fewer divots!

-July 2000 western & Eastern Treasures

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